About 260 people had packed town hall for the meeting, many with
strong opinions about the plan that only appeared to become
stronger when Mayor William Agnellino suspended the meeting 20
minutes after it began.

A township planner had given an overview of the proposal and
council members had begun asking him questions when the order came
in that the meeting room exceeded its 150-people limit.

Before that, Township Planner David Masci noted the council had
asked the Planning Board last year to look at sites around the
township that could be designated as ready for redevelopment. The
Planning Board picked the area around the old Varityper building on
New Murray Road.

The properties have 39 acres and include the Varityper property,
Burger King on Route 10 across from Varityper, and a Sunoco
station, a chiropractor's office and a residence nearby. The
Varityper property is also next to Hanover Park Regional High
School.

The property could support a supermarket and 350 condominium
units in two five-and-a-half story buildings, 1,000 new parking
spaces, a parking garage, a bank and other retail stores, the
Planning Board said in April. The board then sent its
recommendation to the council for its consideration.

When Masci on Monday said the words "350 housing units" and
"five and a half stories," an audible gasp erupted from the
audience that was quickly gaveled down by Mayor William Agnellino.
Agnellino said the council was meeting to hear all the facts about
what was possible for the site but would not be approving or
rejecting anything that night.

A current plan for the site, one that was never discussed at the
abbreviated session, is the one offered by Tarragon Realty of
Manhattan.

Tarragon is interested in the property. It would build a
130,000-square-foot Wegman's, up to 350 condominiums in the
$500,000 price range as well as a bank, 20,000 square feet of
retail space and an unspecified number of apartment units on top of
retail unit at about 800 square feet each.

The plan also calls for a five-story garage for the 360
residential units. Tarragon would also totally redesign the Mount
Pleasant Avenue-Route 10 jug handle across the street nearby,
tearing down the Burger King on the site as well as an already
boarded up Sunoco station.

Masci noted the Planning Board had questioned the need for 350
housing units and when Councilman John DePola got his turn to speak
he followed up on that argument saying the traffic would make the
site unmanageable. "It takes the traffic light two or three times
(to change) before you can get into Home Depot," DePola said. "You
can't get into it now. Can you imagine what would happen with this
development?"

At that point Agnellino announced the fire marshal had informed
him the hall was overcrowded and the meeting would have to shut
down.

When he said this, the council room suddenly became a
free-for-all as residents frustrated they had not been given a
chance to speak began shouting out to the council.

Agnellino later said someone had called police anonymously to
say town hall was overcrowded.

DePola appeared inspired by the crowd noise and made a motion to
put the redevelopment plan in a referendum on the November
ballot.

Agnellino said there was no reason to vote for a referendum
because no one knew what would ultimately be in the redevelopment
plan since it hadn't been discussed.

The mayor and council began work on figuring out a time and a
place for a resumption of the hearing. At first the council aimed
for a September meeting but DePola said if the measure were to put
on the ballot as a referendum, the meeting had to be before Aug. 20
because that is the cutoff date for a referendum to be placed on
the November ballot.

The crowd began screaming for a meeting before Aug. 20. "How
about doing what the taxpayers want," yelled out resident Rocco
Nisivoccia.

Agnellino at first said the meeting would be Sept. 13, its
regular meeting date. "That's our next meeting," Agnellino
said.

"You may not be our next mayor," Nisivoccia yelled
back.

Ultimately the council decided to meet at 7 p.m. next Tuesday,
Aug. 17, at the Hanover Park High School auditorium.

DePola's motion never received a second and it died.

With that the crowd slowly but noisily filed out.

Agnellino called DePola's motion "grandstanding."

"It would help if you're going to make a motion, that you
consult with your fellow council members beforehand," Agnellino
said.

Hanover Park High School Regional High School Superintendent
John Adamus attended the meeting.

As the crowd filed out, he said he had come to hear the
proposal. "We are concerned about traffic and student safety," he
said. "I wanted to hear what this was about. It's rather ambitious.
Getting emergency vehicles into the school is difficult already.
This makes the safety issue more serious."

Ari Weisbrot, attorney for Burger King, said he was just there
to hear what was being offered.

He said Burger King is open to the plan but added, "We would
have liked to have heard more."

Mayor William Agnellino is on record as supporting the plan in
concept.

Opponents of the plan include Eugene Mandzy and former Township
Councilman Richard Tamburro of Timberhill Avenue near the
redevelopment site who have formed a group dedicated to stopping
the planned supermarket and condos.

The group has sent out fliers alerting residents of the dangers
posed by the development.

Agnellino said opponents of the plan are way ahead of
themselves.

"Nothing is written in stone," the mayor said after the meeting.
"We may not want 350 housing units. I think people need to
understand the concept of a redevelopment zone.

Agnellino has noted while he was campaigning last year for
mayor, the one complaint he heard over and over was that there are
no supermarkets in East Hanover.

Wegman's is considered a high-end supermarket. It has five
locations in New Jersey, the nearest on Route 202 in
Bridgewater.

At present there are no supermarkets in East Hanover. Five years
ago there were two, a large Pathmark on Route 10 and Ross' Foodtown
on Ridgedale Avenue.

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